Job 37:10-13

37:10 The breath of God produces ice,

and the breadth of the waters freeze solid.

37:11 He loads the clouds with moisture; ¹ 

he scatters his lightning through the clouds.

37:12 The clouds ²  go round in circles,

wheeling about according to his plans,

to carry out ³  all that he commands them

over the face of the whole inhabited world.

37:13 Whether it is for punishment ⁴  for his land,

or whether it is for mercy,

he causes it to find its mark. ⁵ 

Job 37:16-17

37:16 Do you know about the balancing ⁶  of the clouds,

that wondrous activity of him who is perfect in knowledge?

37:17 You, whose garments are hot

when the earth is still because of the south wind,

Job 37:21-23

37:21 But now, the sun ⁷  cannot be looked at ⁸  –

it is bright in the skies –

after a wind passed and swept the clouds away. ⁹ 

37:22 From the north he comes in golden splendor; ¹⁰ 

around God is awesome majesty.

37:23 As for the Almighty, ¹¹  we cannot attain to him!

He is great in power,

but justice ¹²  and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.

[37:11]  ¹ tn The word “moisture” is drawn from רִי (ri) as a contraction for רְוִי (rÿvi). Others emended the text to get “hail” (NAB) or “lightning,” or even “the Creator.” For these, see the various commentaries. There is no reason to change the reading of the MT when it makes perfectly good sense.

[37:12]  ² tn The words “the clouds” are supplied from v. 11; the sentence itself actually starts: “and it goes round,” referring to the cloud.

[37:12]  ³ tn Heb “that it may do.”

[37:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “rod,” i.e., a rod used for punishment.

[37:13]  ⁵ tn This is interpretive; Heb “he makes find it.” The lightning could be what is intended here, for it finds its mark. But R. Gordis (Job, 429) suggests man is the subject – let him find what it is for, i.e., the fate appropriate for him.

[37:16]  ⁶ tn As indicated by HALOT 618 s.v. מִפְלָשׂ, the concept of “balancing” probably refers to “floating” or “suspension” (cf. NIV’s “how the clouds hang poised” and J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 481-82, n. 2).

[37:21]  ⁷ tn The light here must refer to the sun in the skies that had been veiled by the storm. Then, when the winds blew the clouds away, it could not be looked at because it was so dazzling. Elihu’s analogy will be that God is the same – in his glory one cannot look at him or challenge him.

[37:21]  ⁸ tn The verb has an indefinite subject, and so should be a passive here.

[37:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “and cleaned them.” The referent is the clouds (v. 18), which has been supplied in the translation for clarity. There is another way of reading this verse: the word translated “bright” means “dark; obscured” in Syriac. In this interpretation the first line would mean that they could not see the sun, because it was darkened by the clouds, but then the wind came and blew the clouds away. Dhorme, Gray, and several others take it this way, as does the NAB.

[37:22]  ¹⁰ tn The MT has “out of the north comes gold.” Left in that sense the line seems irrelevant. The translation “golden splendor” (with RV, RSV, NRSV, NIV) depends upon the context of theophany. Others suggest “golden rays” (Dhorme), the aurora borealis (Graetz, Gray), or some mythological allusion (Pope), such as Baal’s palace. Golden rays or splendor is what is intended, although the reference is not to a natural phenomenon – it is something that would suggest the glory of God.

[37:23]  ¹¹ tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.

[37:23]  ¹² tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” as a disjunctive clause starting the second half of the verse (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.”